Carrots, Escape Room, Revelation, Race Day

Last weekend we picked about 1/3 of our carrots- there are so many and they are nice and big! We also have some nice and tall green onions and I was able to use some in a dip I made for a baby shower. I am proud that we were able to grow something and look forward to starting over again next year now that I have some confidence in the area.

On Monday the boys had their Running Camp and it was a beautiful day so I took the girls to Central Park (since it was open again!). The weather was beautiful so we had fun killing time their until it was time to pick up the boys.

Monday night I had signed the boys up for a Harry Potter Escape Room at the library. The other people in their group ended up not showing up so it was just me and the boys who got to figure out how to "escape the room." I am not super smart when it comes to solving puzzles and the boys aren't super good at that either so it was a bit of a challenge for us at times. The first time I got stuck was when we opened up a lock box that had a notebook and a black light in it. I of course assumed that the light was to see something in the notebook and was getting frustrated when we couldn't see any "invisible" words. We ended up asking for help on that one and Ben was the awesome one who answered the Harry Potter question correctly so we could get our clue. It turned out what was in the notebook (it was all about Ron) was the clue on where to use the black light. It felt so obvious after she told us! Seriously not my forte but we did "escape the room" and I think the boys had a good time. 

Tuesday I had a dentist appointment and got to bring all the kids with me. Thankfully they all behaved myself and after the torturous cleaning I was diagnosed with only having one cavity- yay. I hate how I always bleed like crazy when I get my teeth cleaned and they inform me that I need to floss. I do floss! I even purposely floss roughly in hopes that I will toughen up my gums but to no avail. I wonder when the day will come that I will have an entire mouth full of fillings and crowns.

Tuesday night I went to the temple and had a special experience. I have not really wanted any more kids since having Penny but I have been feeling like I need to take it to Heavenly Father before making any final decisions. I have procrastinated this because I'm a bit afraid of his answer. During the Endowment Session I prayed for an answer to this question but in my prayer I basically told him my feelings of fear and that I'm not sure I could "do His will" if he wanted me to have another baby. I know, terrible attitude here. So after the session I went into the Celestial Room and found a Bible and a corner to sit in. I prayed again, asking that I could find some sort of answer in the scriptures. When I opened up the Bible, I opened to a page in Job and it was really all about how God is at the helm and knows us best. At least, that was the revelation that came to me as I read them. It was extremely humbling and made me aware that I really need to work on my faith and trust in God so that I will be ready for whatever the answer may be when I pray again. 

Wednesday I picked up groceries while the boys had Running Camp and then later in the afternoon we did a beach day with just us- a first in a long time. It did not go well at first. They all lost TV time and I was ready to go but I decided to do some bribery and said if they could all get along for the rest of the time I would give them their TV time back. It worked! They all started working together to build sand castles and then they all went out to the platform to jump and played nicely. It was miraculous and perfect and I even was able to get some reading done.  

Wednesday night I decided to pray for opportunities to serve. My friend Laci had lost her father Wednesday night and I was feeling helpless because she was kind of pushing away any help I offered. Not in a mean way but I think she just wanted some space. So this left me just feeling like I wanted to help someone if I couldn't help her so that's what led me to pray for these opportunities. Literally the next day I was given oodles of opportunities. I ended up babysitting for 2 families Thursday. One was a for a single father that has 3 kids and then I watched Caroline's 3 oldest while she took her youngest to an appointment. The babysitting times overlapped by 1 hour so I had one hour where there were 10 kids in my house. It was insane. Reality is I actually had 12 kids because a friend came over to help me survive the chaos. It really did help to have her there though. I am not sure I could have made it through the crazy without her there to calm me down.

That was just half of the serving opportunities I was given. I was also asked that day if I could take a friend to an airport and watch her cat and garden while she was away. And another friend asked if I can watch her youngest overnight in August while she takes her older kids to New York. It was definitely reassuring that God listens and answers our prayers.

Friday was the last day of Running Camp and after it was over we met some friends at Central Park in Milford. Unfortunately it started to rain shortly after we got there and as of late Lucy has been having some major panic attacks when it rains. She has this fear that rain brings lightening and she will get struck by lightening. It's awful because it rains ALL the time here in Michigan and I don't know how to calm her down. Even when there is no thunder or lightening, she swears she hears it. So we ended up rushing out of the Park and going to our friends house since they live in Milford. It turned out great because our kids all play really well together and it was a really nice afternoon afterall.

Saturday was the Race Day- what running camp had been training them for. I was worried about the boys finishing their mile but they ended up doing really well. Steven got third place and his time was 7:30 and Ben got fifth place and his time was 8:17. The girls had fun cheering them on with cow bells that were provided and signs that the boys had made. It was a good morning!

Afterwards I impulsively decided it was time to tackle the project of painting the dining room and kitchen so we stopped at Home Depot and bought some supplies. I have been wanting to do this since we had bought the house but was struggling with color choices and wanting to exert the effort. Well the colors gray and white finally felt right and I finally got the umph to start. The burned orange color is now covered in primer and our kitchen is already brighter. Now I just have to find the right shade of gray. Since I also want to paint the cabinets white I am pretty sure our kitchen will be in shambles for quite some time but I know it will all be worth it when it's done!

Running Camp, Kayaking, Cookies, Harry Potter

This week we kept ourselves busy. The boys started their Running Camp at Milford High School on Monday morning. I felt bad as I dropped them off because it was very hot and humid. I had told the girls we would go to the park while the boys were at their camp but I quickly changed my mind. We ended up going home so I could clean instead- yay. Afterwards I rewarded the boys for running in the heat with a swim at the Milford High pool/waterpark. I think that made everything all better because it was really hard to get them to leave the pool- really hard. Added bonus was that a friend from Lucy's class was there. She had so much fun hanging out with her! And second added bonus was that Ben finally got brave enough to ride the water slide- and he loved it, so much!

Tuesday we had a beach day with the Budds family in the afternoon. The kids all get along really well so I just got to sit and chat with Valerie and that was really nice. Then I topped off a good afternoon with a kayaking outing with my friend Stefanie. The weather was absolutely perfect and it was a really good time. However, I did almost tip my kayak over twice. I tried to paddle a little too hard (maybe all this working out has made me too strong- ha ha!) But Stefanie and I are such good friends that I don't have to worry about appearances anyhow- she already knows I am a clumsy goober. We topped off the nice outing with a trip to DQ- a perfect evening!

Wednesday morning the weather was much better so after we dropped the boys off at their Running Camp I headed to Milford Central Park with the girls. Unfortunately it was closed for repairs! The girls were bummed but sugar fixes everything so we went to the Milford Bakery. It was fun to be back in Milford- I sure miss that cute town! The girls picked out amazingly cute, delicious and expensive cookies (and we also got 2 for the boys).  

After hogging down their cookies, they made wishes in the fountain. The girls wished for a unicorn and Lucy lamented to me that she wished wishes were real.

Since we still had time before we needed to pick up the boys and I didn't want to have to drive all the way home, we decided to walk over to the "waterfall".

After we walked back to the car we still had time to spare so we hit the Milford Library. While I saw a family that I subbed for and was reminded of the awkwardness hanging out in Milford can be. Some kids I sub for can be really sweet about seeing me and others try to hide and pretend they don't know me. This was the hiding variety, ha ha!

Late afternoon Wednesday we met Laci and her kids at the beach. I actually got into the water and swam out near the platform and stayed there for awhile. I'm getting braver- maybe soon I'll actually jump from the platform. My kids are braver than me though, Ben and Lucy (with the aide of Laci) finally got brave and had a blast jumping from the platform. It was a really good time and Penny and Janie had some pretty cute bonding time on the swing.

Thursday afternoon we went to see Rainforest Animals at the library. It kind of gave me some anxiety. There were a lot of people, a lot of kids who were not great listeners and some animals that gave me the heebie jeebies. Also the presenter seemed to have some sort of issue that made him very jerky so when he would walk around you thought he was going to bump you in the back of the head with the critters. This alligator below is one example of critters that gave me heebie jeebies. It also peed on the ground right my kids. They weren't super thrilled about that, ha ha.

This cavy below was a new acquisition to this company and you could tell it was terrified of all the people, poor guy.

The snake below is another case of things that freak me out. I refused to get close to the boa constrictor but 3 out of my 4 kids touched it.

Friday was another day of running camp and swimming afterwards and that was about our extent of that day. Tyler on the other hand was having major back problems- back spasms and troubles being able to move. He ended up going to the Chiropractor and thankfully they were able to find the source of discomfort and offer some ways to help with the pain. He seems to be doing better today, thankfully. He actually was able to sleep in our bed last night. 

Today we were total nerds and Target was having a Harry Potter "event" so we dressed up a bit and went. It was actually pretty lame- just a photo prop, and some freebies BUT it served it's purpose, it got me in their doors and buying things. I ended up finding some amazing deals on clothes for the kids so go me! 

Hand lettering, Beach Days and a Nature Walk

It's always rough coming back from a good vacation! This week was spent catching up on groceries and house cleaning and things on my to do list that I had been neglecting. It was also spent trying to get back into the routine of exercising in the morning and having the kids do their workbooks and reading. And throughout it all there was the realization that my kids had been getting along so much better when we were on vacation than when we were at home. Oh the fighting this week has nearly made me crazy. I joke that Ben has a "rage mode" but I am finding out that I have one too- like when the kids have lost the remote and we can't turn off the TV without it (why do they make TV's without power buttons!?) and we have to be somewhere. Seriously, my kids bring the worst of me out.

I spent the first few days of this week hand lettering like crazy. Tyler's mom had requested I make her some new things to hang up at her office for her birthday, plus I had some birthday cards and thank you cards to make. Then after all that I finally finished the 25 "mustache" cards that I had been requested to make by a teacher. I am feeling burnt out with hand lettering at the moment and need a bit of a break but I am really proud of how the ones I made for Tyler's mom turned out. Here are a few of them:

Aside from the hand lettering we had a fun Cub Scout Swim party Tuesday afternoon at Sister Hines pool. She has been in Cub Scouts since Steven started and just got released. She did so much and we sure are going to miss her! The swimming was really fun (minus one of my primary kids who kept squirting me with a squirt gun- so much love). The girls have their floaties which makes them pretty independent and the boys are getting to be pretty good swimmer (Ben just wears his *too small* life vest because of his anxiety but he's actually not too bad of a swimmer). I had fun chatting with parents and Penny had fun flirting with one of Steven's friend's, Enzo. She loves Enzo and his older brother, Vincent. She even tried to kiss Enzo while swimming- I think we are in some major trouble with this girl. She is way too young to be trying to kiss boys!

Tuesday evening we had the Massey's watch our kids while we went out on a date (we had won their babysitting services at the Ward auction a few months back). Sister Massey was so nice and offered to have them come to her house and she would make them dinner. The kids were totally spoiled rotten- they had dinner, dessert, games, prizes and a movie. The Massey's also had a 22 year old cat which Steven was obsessed with and this cat has inspired him to bother us frequently about buying a cat for him (will not happen!). While they had their fun Tyler and I went to The Cheesecake Factory and after eating dinner got some cheesecake to go. We brought it home and vegged out on it while watching America's Got Talent. A super laid back night but it was a super nice break.

Wednesday afternoon we had a beach day with some friends. My kids had been fighting all morning and when we got to the beach they were finally able to stop driving me crazy and have good time with their friends. Beach days like that make me so happy- I could've stayed there forever. I was also grateful Heather and 3 of her kids were able to come since they were leaving to their new house in Indiana the next day. She has always been such a good friend and so willing to serve and her kids have always gotten along so well with mine. We sure are going to miss her family! We tried to get a good pictures with Heather, Lydia, Bradley and Josie but Josie was pretty upset about a pair of her goggles that had broken so she wasn't very cooperative.  

Bethany and me getting one last picture with Heather (far right)

Thursday morning we met up with Laci and her two kids at the Kensington Nature Center. The kids were super snacky the whole time (constantly getting into my backpack while I am trying to walk) and Ben took a tumble near the end and you would've thought he was going to die (a ranger even came out of the nature center to give him an ice pack- I thought it was going to be the splash pad incident all over over again) so it wasn't the best adventure ever but it was nice to catch up with Laci so there's that silver lining. 

Ben asked for a picture on this rock and then everyone else followed suit so he was angry that he didn't get the picture to himself so another group picture fail.

Friday the kids requested that we go to Splash Universe and I begrudgingly took them. This was going to be my first time on my own and I was doubtful it was going to go well based on their behavior all week. Surprisingly though, it went really well (until it was time to go). The boys did really good at helping out with the girls and there were times where I just got to sit at the table and chill. I also had some fun working on the kids swimming skills while we were there. Ben finally mastered floating on his back and he was super proud of himself! Like I said, it was really good until it was time to go. Then Ben turned into the rage monster and Steven pretended his three more times down the slide were really only the one more time I told him he could have. It was a real rough exit but we made it out in time so that we were only stuck in rush hour traffic for the last half of the drive and not the whole drive. Traffic is the worst. 

Friday night we drove over to Dodge Park because they have this nice straight sidewalk and we were going to start teaching Lucy how to ride a two wheeler. Our timing was bad though, they were having a concert at the park so we parked at the library instead. Tyler worked with Lucy there while I walked the rest of the kids down to the park. We listened to a couple songs at the concert- Penny insisted on sitting super close to a lady so it was kind of awkward hence the reason we only stayed for a couple songs. Then we went back to the parking lot and I watched Lucy try one more ride. She's really good at putting her feet down to stop herself from falling so at least she wasn't all banged up. The only problem is she gets nervous quickly and puts her feet down often so she's got some more courage to gain before she'll get the hang of it. I don't think it will be too much longer though. 

Day 4 & 5: Washington D&C Monuments/Memorials & Going Home

When we were done with the caverns we had lunch. Funny story from lunch: We were at Subway and I had gotten Penny some McDonald's and brought it there. She wasn't eating her nuggets and said she wanted chips. I said "you need to eat your nuggets." She asked "And then chips?" Most of the chips were gone so I told her that. She then looked over at all the chips at the counter and Vanna White style said, "Ta da!"

After lunch we split ways.Chris took our girls and their 2 youngest and headed back to their house. Jenny C and Saylie hopped into our car and we went back to DC. From the caverns it was a 2 hour drive to DC so we got their mid afternoon. Our first walk was to the Jefferson Monument. Jenny C said this one was her favorite and after doing them all, I agree. It was not super crowded and had an air of peace and respect around it. I also loved many of the quotes engraved around the room.

Our next Memorial was the Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial. This one consisted of more good quotes, with pools of water everywhere, and a statue of FDR and another statue of his wife, Eleanor. 

It was pretty funny when Tyler took his backpack off and we realized his sweat had made a smiley face on his back.

After cooling off in an air conditioned gift shop we walked through the Martin Luther King Memorial. You'll notice Tyler in a lot of these photos. He decided to become quite the documenter on our last trip into DC so I took a break and documented a little less. 

The next Memorial we walked through was the Korean War Memorial. This was the first one to really hit me emotionally. I love our country but I think it's easy to forget sometimes about how many people from our country have sacrificed their lives for our freedom and the freedom of others. This was the first one to bring it into focus. The kids struggled with being respectful and reverent at this one but we sure tried to get them to understand.

We saw the Lincoln Memorial next. It is huge and amazing but at the same time it was not my favorite. It was super crowded, and not well ventilated. Not really a good place to stay and hang and contemplate.

After this one we got some ice cream and then headed to the Vietnam Memorial. Even more humbling and emotional. Way too many names of people who lost their lives in that war. We really talked to the kids about the recentness of this war and the importance of being respectful and this time they did a really good job. Steven walked through reading names as he went- it was really touching.

Our last Memorial was the World War 2 Memorial. I wasn't super impressed with the design of this one. It had pillars for each of the states and then some for other places involved in the war laid out in a circle with a fountain in the middle. The pillars were arranged by the importance of each state- that sort of rubbed me the wrong way. However, the Freedom Wall was really humbling- each star represented 100 lives lost and there were 4000 stars. 4000 people who were brothers, fathers, loved. We are so blessed for their sacrifice.

After that Memorial we really had to book it back to our car because we were parked somewhere that had a 3 hour limit. I am amazed it that we made it their right on time considering how exhausted and hot the kids were. Just as we were leaving we saw a police car pull into the lot so thank heavens we got there on time or we might have been towed!

We stopped for Chick-Fil-A on the way home which was a must with it being so close. When we got back Lucy was still awake, apparently she was really missing me. Also when we got back Steven discovered that his solar system poster that he had gotten from the Air and Space Museum had been played with by Lucy and was wrinkled and ripped on the edges. He was not happy with Lucy and she felt really bad and started crying. It was a fun night but when we at last got them to bed we got to go spend some time with Jenny C and Chris. We ended up watching "Black Panther" with them and they both passed out pretty fast (they had seen it before). Chris started breathing pretty loud and then woke up with a snort saying, "Was I snoring!?" It was pretty hard not to giggle. About 20 minutes from the end I decided I could figure out the rest and went to bed too. 

Saturday July, 7 was Tyler's birthday. The Chappell's got us doughnuts and even lit one up for Tyler when Lucy spilled the beans that it was his birthday.

Poor Tyler had to spend his birthday driving back to Michigan but luckily it went pretty smoothly again- minus the 40 minute wait at Burger King. It was the last Service Plaza for 80 miles and all 3 places there literally had 1 worker and 1 cook and it was lunchtime. At least we weren't in a rush. This time we didn't even have a DVD player for the drive because that had decided to break too but like  the kids still did good and Tyler was more happy because I helped with the driving again.

On our way home we bought some cereal for dinner per Tyler's request and some Ding Dongs for his makeshift birthday cake. It was such an exciting celebration ;) His birthday gifts consisted of a new mattress (that I had already bought him and don't really love), some money from my parents and Harry Potter Legos from his parents.